Season 3
Season 3 begins roughly six months after the events of "I'll Be Seeing You", the concluding two part episode of Season 2. This would be Nicholas Colasanto's final season before his death. Starting with this season, "Singin' the blues when the Red Sox lose" is replaced with "Makin' your way in the world today", which would be used for the rest of the show's run. Summary of Main Events Sam has fallen off the wagon. In addition to drinking heavily, he is also carousing around and neglecting the bar. He has gone through several waitresses, frustrating Carla and Coach. Diane has left Cheers, and within a few months suffered a nervous breakdown. She admitted herself to a sanitarium called Goldenbrook, and spent three months there. In this season, they added a new character, Frasier Crane. Frasier is a psychiatrist, although he apparently is not Diane's doctor. In the opening two part episode, "Rebound", Coach decides he's had enough, and visits Diane in order to get her to come and talk to Sam. Although she has vowed never to return to Cheers, she swallows her pride and screws up her courage to go back for a talk, for Coach and for Sam. She invites Frasier to attend, and he precedes her there. Cornered by Coach and Diane, and pressured by the group to stop drinking and get help, Sam allows Frasier to counsel him for a time - roughly ten days to two weeks. A conversation with Diane, where they both admit to each other that the relationship is over, seems to release the tension between the two of them. Sam begins to attend AA meetings, and says he regrets turning back to the bottle. When yet another waitress quits, Sam asks Diane if she would be willing to return. She initially refuses, but Coach pressures her to come back by telling her he needs her to help keep an eye on Sam. Diane returns, news which Carla takes surprisingly well. As Diane and Frasier's relationship progresses, Diane keeps a wary eye on Sam, having convinced herself he still carries a torch. Sam makes no overt attempts to break the two up, and even takes steps to wish them well and help them out, but his apparant goodwill does not convince her. Diane interprets Sam's behavior as a defense mechanism, and his jokes about their former relationship as a reason to pity him. Frasier accepts Sam as a friend, and goes so far as to try to integrate himself with the boys at the bar, with mixed results. As the season progressed, Frasier was presented with an offer to teach and study in Italy, at the University of Bologna. Diane is less than thrilled at the news, not quite able to grasp the thought of leaving Cheers - and Sam - for good. She agrees to go away, but on her last night at Cheers, Diane and Sam almost succomb to passion. However, they can't decide if it means anything, so they end up cooling down. Sam admits he is interested in rekindling the relationship, but Diane leaves anyway, awkwardly. The two continue to share phone calls, which carry unspoken meaning for both of them. In the season finale, "Rescue Me", Frasier proposes. Diane's first reaction is to call Sam - presumably to learn his reaction. Sam appears to shrug off the proposal, wishing Diane well, but also openly doubting Diane's motives for calling him. Sam tells Norm he believes Diane called to gloat, but Norm believes Diane called to see if Sam would talk her out of marriage. Sam begins to consider trying to stop the marriage, and has an elaborate fantasy where he successfully does so. Sam finally tells the gang he wants to stop the marriage, to stop them from making a mistake. Cliff helps him book a flight. Carla tries to talk him out of it but can't. We see Diane make one last desperate call to Sam, to talk to him one last time before getting married, but she is not able to reach him - because he has already hopped a plane to Italy. It's not clear if the last phone call is another fantasy of Sam's or if it really happened. The season ends with Sam in the air, and Diane apparently reluctantly on her way to the altar. Other events: *Cliff comes back from a vacation to Florida (evidently taken prior to the start of the season), and spends much of the season discussing it at length to anyone who will listen. *Norm's wife Vera wants to get pregnant. After months of trying, she and Norm give up. *Coach falls in love and gets engaged, but ends up not getting married when his fiancee suddenly wins the lottery, then decides they no longer have much in common. *Carla becomes pregnant with her sixth child. The child is the product of a fling between her and Dr. Bennett Ludlow, Frasier's mentor. Ludlow was smitten with Carla's blunt straightforwardness, and even went so far as to propose marriage. But, she turned him down, believing that he isn't "Mr. Right". *Sam returns to school, and gets his high school diploma, with some help from Coach. Episodes Actors Cast *Ted Danson as Sam Malone *Shelley Long as Diane Chambers *Nicholas Colasanto as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso (appeared in 19 episodes, credited for all) *Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli *John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin *George Wendt as Norm Peterson Recurring Characters *Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane (13 episodes) *Larry Harpel as Larry (9 episodes) *Steve Giannelli as Steve (4 episodes) *Al Rosen as Al (3 episodes) *Alan Koss as Alan (3 episodes) *Thomas Babson as Tom (3 episodes) *Tim Cunningham as Tim (3 episodes) *Dan Hedaya as Nick Tortelli (2 episodes) *Jean Kasem as Loretta Tortelli (2 episodes) *Duncan Ross as Boggs (appeared in Season 1) *Dean Dittman as Harrison Fiedler (appeared in Season 1) *Sam Scarber as Lewis (appeared in Season 2) Notable Guest Stars *Bernadette Birkett as "Tinker Bell" *Bette Ford as Irene Blanchard *Ellen Regan as Sue Blanchard *Carmen Argenziano as Marvin *Nancy Marchand as Hester Crane *Carol Kane as Amanda Boyer *James Karen as Bennett Ludlow *Michael Richards as Eddie Gordon *Laurie Walters as Jacqueline Bisset *Alison La Placa as Paula Nelson *Raye Birk as Walt Twitchell *Lila Kaye as Lilian Huxley *Camilla Moore as Carolyn Huxley *Camila Ashland as Drusilla Dimeglio *Martin Ferrero as "Waiter" Other characters from Season 3 can be seen on this page. Awards and Recognition Cheers ended Season 3 the #12 show in the Nielson ratings. Cheers earned 12 Emmy nominations for the third season, including for Outstanding Comedy Series. Rhea Perlman won one of the two awards the show took home, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. DVD release Paramount released the Region 1 version of the Season 3 DVD on 25 May, 2004. It included all 25 episodes, as well as a few special features. Release Information *'Studio:' Paramount Home Video *'Release Type:' Season Boxed Set *'Release Date:' (Region 1) 5/25/2004 *'Release Date:' (Region 2) 9/6/2004 *'Release Date:' (Region 4) 9/10/2004 *'Number of Discs:' 4 *'Number of Episodes:' 25 *'Running Time:' 619 mins Audio/Video Information *'Video:' Full Frame (1.33:1) *'Audio:' English - Stereo *'Subtitles:' Closed Captioned (Region 1) *'Subtitles:' Danish, English, French, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian (Region 2) Features *'Virtual Vera:' A clip show featuring Norm talking about his wife, *'Shrink Warped: Introducing Frasier Crane:' A clip show featuring Frasier, *'Carla's Whipping Boy:' A clip show of Carla ripping on Cliff, *'Nicholas Colasanto: His Final Season:' A clip show of Colasanto, featuring comments from Ted Danson, George Wendt and Rhea Perlman, *'Cheers Bar Tour:' An interactive tour of the bar, featuring commentary from Dahl Delu, art director for Cheers. Category:Seasons